


Atom Bomb

by Yumoh



Series: Familia [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canonical Child Abuse, Child Vanya Hargreeves, Gen, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Vanya pre Rumor, she still has her powers for this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 18:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17944757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yumoh/pseuds/Yumoh
Summary: Vanya just wanted to be a good girl but Reginald wanted a bomb instead.





	Atom Bomb

**Author's Note:**

> No Beta so please forgive my mistakes. Also this can be taken as a sort of prequel to Nobody.

Her powers manifested almost three months after she was born. Her nanny was required to keep a highly detailed account of Seven's actions no matter how mundane and up until then there was nothing of note to report. Seven was a quiet baby who hardly ever fussed unless it was dire. Her nanny considered that compared to some of the other nannies especially with Two's and Four's that she had lucked out. The little thing loved to stare at you with her big brown eyes and adored if you hummed or sang to her. One day she was singing her a lullaby to put her to sleep when a strange occurrence happen. As she tried to lower Seven into her crib, her eyes turned white and the crib beneath her completely splintered. In fright, the nanny nearly dropped her but quickly bundled her close to her chest. 

 

She reported the incident immediately to her employer who looked curious yet quite delighted. He paid Seven the first visit she had ever witnessed since she got here. Mr. Hargreeves picked her up gingerly and as he had her secured with one arm, he reached into his pocket with the other. Out from his pocket came a pocket watch which had a rathered loud monotonous ticking noise. He placed the watch right up to Seven's ear and said, “Focus.” Nothing happen at first and an annoyed look passed across his face but then he seemed calm as he repeated, “Focus” but this time he pinched her plump cheeks much too harshly. Seven let out a shrill cry and this time her eyes turned a pale white again. The window in her room shattered completely and the floor became littered with glass. Mr. Hargreeves didn't look alarmed at all as he surveyed the damage instead he chuckled and looked down at Seven with morbid glee as he said, “Well aren't you my little atom bomb?” He then unceremoniously dumped the baby back into the nanny's arm as he was off to record his findings. 

 

From then on, Seven was increasingly more and more difficult to handle. Any wrong move would lead to destruction and property damage. Her room was changed to a windowless one no bigger than a closet with nothing in it but a reinforced crib that wouldn't shatter. Hargreeves would visit at least once a week. He would take her down to a room with plenty of items she could destroy and test what would set Seven off. Her powers were unlike any of her siblings as none of them had a talent which could cause the level of damage that her's could. If he could manage to harness it then he would be able to eradicate crime at a unbelievable rate as what greater deterrent were there be than a being who could essentially get rid of you in mere seconds with her mind. 

 

The next two years of her life was filled with such training as Father reminded her that she was even more different than her siblings. Their training was to differ from her’s as she was already of use even though she hadn't controlled her powers yet. Her very first word was focus as it was what was repeated to her over and over again. All she needed to do was focus on one sound and her consciousness would fade. Thoughts that didn't seem quite her own would overtake her mind as they demanded, “protect yourself, save yourself, destroy.” When she came to, she was always confused and sleepy so she took to calling it the sleepy place. The room she was in would be trashed but Father would be beaming as he patted her head and said, “Well done, Seven.” She was then put back into her room where she was to remain supervised by one of her constantly revolving nannies. Her other siblings would get to play together but she was to be kept away except for once or twice a month. She would ask her nanny to tell her about them and her nanny would tell her what she had heard from the other nannies. She desperately wanted to be with them all the time but knew that it wasn't going to happen. Even her nannies gave her a wide berth unless absolutely necessary. She never understood why as she wasn't scary as she tried to promise them. 

 

Then just after her fourth birthday, she went on her first mission. Father had told her that all she had to do was simply walk in the building, close her eyes and let herself go into the sleepy place. He would come get her once it was done. The building was an old warehouse on the edge of town. Her small legs were unsure as they carried her into the building through a small side entrance that Father had told her about. She tried to keep her footsteps silent as the building was swarming with bad guys. Once she was in, she closed her eyes and focused on the beat of her own heart and then she was gone. Her mind felt like it was floating and she could only hope that all was well. 

 

Then she was awake all of a sudden. She was standing in the ruins of the warehouse. Nothing around her but rubble, the cold night air, and the stars. She looked down and noticed red on her hands and on her clothes. It wasn't from her as she tested all her limbs and didn't find any wounds or bruises. She looked up to the sound of loud clapping. It was Father who looked overjoyed and he said, “You really are my atom bomb, Seven.”

 

From then on, she was sent on missions where she would wake up sitting alone in a field of mass destruction. Her training got more and more intense as Father pressed her harder and harder to get control of her powers. Control meant not feeling at all as she knew that crying or smiling both could bring the house down around them. She finally got to see her brothers and sister once a week if she behaved. They were so bright and lively that she was envious. They giggled and laughed and play fought. Four and Six could play patticake for hours on end, One and Two loved to wrestle on the play mat, Five and Three were the best at talking so they would yammer for hours on end. She would sit and stare wondering how to fit in and talk when they spent much more time together. They weren’t bombs like she was, too dangerous to love or to hold. She was afraid one day she might go to the sleepy place on accident and hurt them. So she kept a neutral face, trying her best to be a good girl. 

 

But the world was too fragile for her as she couldn't control her powers which were determined to protect her no matter what. Her nannies were too often replaced cause she got too annoyed or too upset. Their bodies bent at odd angles and they were so still Seven thought she had put them to sleep. They were always replaced within days by another nanny. Until one day even after she had gone to the sleepy place, the new nanny woke up and fixed her head. That nanny was called Mom by Father who gathered all of them and told them that all their nannies had been let go in favor of Grace, their Mom. Seven was relieved by Mom as she no longer had to worry about not being emotional around her. She could cry, laugh, or frown and not have to worry about putting her to sleep. Father still sent her on missions but afterwards she had someone to hug afterwards and secretly confess she didn't like going to the sleepy place. 

 

Her powers grew as she grew and her father was not happy that her control had not grown with it. She wasn't capable of focusing on destroying one cup in a row of glasses and instead could manage all or nothing. The glass on Father's monocle broke as well causing a large gash to bloom on his cheek. His gaze became cold as he kept an iron clamp on her arm and dragged her to her room despite her frantic apologies. At her missions, she wouldn't wake up to ruble as she could avoid destroying the whole building but instead bodies all still, covered in blood. Sometimes when Father collected her again, she could see that he was afraid that she would make him go to sleep too. Seven doubled down her efforts to feel nothing as she would practice by staring at walls for hours at a time trying to clear her mind.  But her father had his own plans when he said he had special training for her. He led her down an elevator to a room covered in spikes and as soon as she was in; he shut the door. 

 

There was a sort of deafening silence in the room. Her father stood and watched as she banged on the glass, pleading and sobbing. Soon enough she didn’t have anymore tears to cry as her sobs were swallowed by the emptiness of the room and she was exhausted. She sunk to the ground and closed her eyes. Her heartbeat was the loudest thing in here and it was maddening. She knew that if she went to the sleepy place, she would destroy everything and she couldn't afford to let that happen. She tried to counter the rising thoughts howling, “protect yourself, save yourself, destroy,” by chanting to herself, “Be a good girl. Be a good girl. Be a good girl.” Seven rocked herself back and forth in an attempt to comfort herself just like Mom did whenever she would panic. She dug into all her memories to remember why she had to be good. If she wasn’t good she would wake up to all her siblings and Father and Pogo and even Mom all asleep permanently just like she always feared. Those thoughts are what kept her from tearing out her hair as the noise of her heart beat got louder and louder in her ears especially after the lights were turned out. She was let out the next morning by her father who said that this was to be repeated soon if she didn’t improve quickly enough. 

 

Her control improved but not by a wide enough margin. On her next mission, she was unable to focus and nearly got herself killed before she could focus. That landed her back into the cage again but this time for longer. By the time she came out again, she was ready to fight tooth and nail before going back in there. The next time she felt Father’s arm begin to tug her in that direction, she fought. Seven writhed out of his grip and bolted from him. But before she could make it too far, she felt a prick on her skin and she was falling ,falling, falling. When she awoke it was to the room again. Seven nearly cried out of frustration as she sat and waited to be let out again, trying as always to focus on why she shouldn’t destroy this place. Grace was the one who came in instead of Father. She carried with her a orange pill bottle and Mom handed her a single red pill. Seven didn’t question it as she swallowed it as her Mom stroked her hair and reassured her that, “she was such a good girl.” After the pill, the call of the sleepy place stopped as even her own heartbeat dulled back down and she felt blissfully calm.  When Father came in hours later with Three, she was too numb to care. Seven didn’t understand the impact of the words that would roll off her sister’s tongue and if she could, she wouldn’t be able to care at least not on the drugs she was on. Just like that the atom bomb was set dormant as Three said, “I heard a rumor that you thought you were ordinary.” 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, leave a kudo or a comment (I really would appreciate it)


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